Engstrom True Frameback Refinished Real Quick

I got this blade off eBay a couple days ago. $10. Today I just sanded real quick and polished it up for a minute. This blade is NICE! It's a true frameback where the frame is added to the blade. Brass frame. Gotta see this in person to see how nice it is. I had to take the etching off the front to make it look nice, but that's alright. On the front there is still a scratch that was pretty deep, but it won't stop the razor from shaving. I'm not the type to try and get a mirror finish with no scratches- I don't have the time :shrug:. The last pic is just thrown in there because I love how the tang shines! Now I just have to make some scales for it if I ever get the time and hone this baby up!

She's a beauty. Nice grab for $10. Can't
wait to see her with some nice scales.

John

This may be out of the scope of you most excellent find but did you find the razor to be easy to clean because of the condition of the metal or the fact that it was a frameback, not that style should matter. I am asking because of this ambiguity http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...MEWA:IT&ih=011
not sure how to judge this "with minor metal rust along the top rounded edges of the razors"

Yours seemed to work out superbly for a $10 find, looks like a nice looking razor, I hope the pictures I requested help this buy decision.

Kind regards,

gerard

That is one sweet blade.....what a steal at $10!!!! She'll look wonderful once you put on a nice set of scales! :tu

A very nice grab!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Soopercat

This may be out of the scope of you most excellent find but did you find the razor to be easy to clean because of the condition of the metal or the fact that it was a frameback, not that style should matter. I am asking because of this ambiguity http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=320221676427&ssPa geName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=011
not sure how to judge this "with minor metal rust along the top rounded edges of the razors"

Yours seemed to work out superbly for a $10 find, looks like a nice looking razor, I hope the pictures I requested help this buy decision.

Kind regards,

gerard

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Very good question! That is a great seven day set there. Those Engstrom framebacks are INCREDIBLE shavers (as I think this one will be). I've sold one of them and still have one of that style. Now looking at that auction, I can say that the blades will be very difficult to clean up flawlessly. The reason is twofold.

One- because framebacks are HARDER to clean in my opinion because it takes a lot of patience, precision and effort to clean rust, etc. from the area right where the "frame" meets the top of the blade and keep the sanding lines uniform with the rest of the blade somehow after doing it. The second reason is probably the harder one- These Engstroms have kind of "greyed" blades. My razor up above originally had the arrow and JE 1874 marked also. This etching is kind of etched out of a grey patina that covers the surface. This is original to all of these razors. It isn't quite like "bluing" as it is very grey and it is kind of matte in finish. If you sand it at all, it will destroy the grey finish on the blade and in order for it to look even decent you will need to sand the entire blade. My blade above had maybe half of the grey finish missing so I took it all off. It is very noticeable if an area of the grey is at all different from the rest. Now this is if you are planning to sand it at all, and you probably won't know whether you will need to unless you have the razors in hand.

All that being said those razors are awesome and if they don't go above the $89 they are at now, I will be bidding lol.

P.S.- the high bidder right now is a SRP member who bought one of my Engstroms a while back. He loves those razors.

Very nice frameback Alex. I just flash about 6 different woods through my eyes for that one. 10 bucks............ you stole it! :nj

Nice snag! :bow

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Philadelph

Very good question! That is a great seven day set there. Those Engstrom framebacks are INCREDIBLE shavers (as I think this one will be). I've sold one of them and still have one of that style. Now looking at that auction, I can say that the blades will be very difficult to clean up flawlessly. The reason is twofold.

One- because framebacks are HARDER to clean in my opinion because it takes a lot of patience, precision and effort to clean rust, etc. from the area right where the "frame" meets the top of the blade and keep the sanding lines uniform with the rest of the blade somehow after doing it. The second reason is probably the harder one- These Engstroms have kind of "greyed" blades. My razor up above originally had the arrow and JE 1874 marked also. This etching is kind of etched out of a grey patina that covers the surface. This is original to all of these razors. It isn't quite like "bluing" as it is very grey and it is kind of matte in finish. If you sand it at all, it will destroy the grey finish on the blade and in order for it to look even decent you will need to sand the entire blade. My blade above had maybe half of the grey finish missing so I took it all off. It is very noticeable if an area of the grey is at all different from the rest. Now this is if you are planning to sand it at all, and you probably won't know whether you will need to unless you have the razors in hand.

All that being said those razors are awesome and if they don't go above the $89 they are at now, I will be bidding lol.

P.S.- the high bidder right now is a SRP member who bought one of my Engstroms a while back. He loves those razors.

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I thank you very much for your feedback, especially the gray finish. It would or may detract from the value of the set if you where to remove all of it. The seller has been less than responsive in sending pictures of each blade as requested, so I'm not sure if I will be bidding.

Kind regards,

Gerard

Alex:
That one came out really nice... Something about a true frame-back has a certain look that just set them apart. I hope you keep the thread alive and show us what scales you decide to go with....:nj
There was a great statement you made in the original post that I so agree with
"I'm not the type to try and get a mirror finish with no scratches- I don't have the time"
For me it is not so much the time, but the fact that subsequent scratches show up so bad, which drives me crazy.... Every now and then, I will actually take the time to mirror them out... Most of the time though I stop at a very high lustre...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gssixgun

For me it is not so much the time, but the fact that subsequent scratches show up so bad, which drives me crazy.... Every now and then, I will actually take the time to mirror them out... Most of the time though I stop at a very high lustre...

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Yeah that's exactly how I feel Glen! I mean, even this blade can reflect an image if it is next to an object, there are just scratches in certain light. I'm much more into the usefulness of the blade, but definitely appreciate a good mirror shine.

Ok, so I kinda just wanted to throw some scales on this real quick just so I could hone it up. I had this old set of horn scales or whatever it is lying around that I had been messing around putting a CA finish on. These scales were pretty beat up when I first got the razor they were on. Actually they came from the first razor I ever got- from my dad (found at a flea market). It was a Frederick Reynolds. I've since cleaned that one up too and will post pics when it gets scales. I had to sand these a lot so the width got cut down a little. I originally just wanted to try bringing back to life horn scales. Then I wanted to experiment with CA, so I used these. The CA finish is not the best, but it's kind of cool that it now sealed up this material. They are by no means perfect, but when I threw them on this blade I loved it! I had to put in the third pin (regular peened, other pins are adjustable) so the blade wouldn't be right at the edge of the other side. Easy to cut yourself if your razor is almost peeking out the other side of the scales! I think it turned out pretty well and am happy. Kinda nice that I could save those scales. My dad will probably like that I kept them since he got them for me origianlly, regardless of whether or not they are on their original blade. Please excuse all of the poor lighting and dust/etc.

Man, that sand job was real quick? You guys on here are truly artists. Wow and nice work is all I can say.

-Pary

Very nice. Im usually not one for framebacks but this one made me think twice about my opinion... Great work, and for $10!! Cant beat that. And my wife says they arent investments!!

I was the only bidder on it. I think it was because the seller had no idea what the tang said because a lot was worn away so there was nothing said about it in the auction. By looking at the photos though I knew exactly who the maker was and I especially like his razors. Lucky find for sure.

Rusty, by real quick I mean maybe two hours. I didn't go into such depth with this blade as I would for someone else's. For myself, now I'm more into just having them look nice without days upon days of effort. I really just want them looking nice and shaving even better!

That is one very nice job. Actually excellent, because you have some history to go with it.

Kind Regards.

Gerard

really great job!!!!!

I recently bought a Hellburg brass frameback off of ebay. It's also a Swedish razor. I haven't started working on it yet. I think it will come out very nice, though.